#1 - Both
receivers were bad; Living room had 0 signal strength; bedroom - the receiver
keeps cylcing power on it's own. Both receivers had no 13/18 volts out.

#2 - BR receiver
line showed a short from the dish. Suspecting a connector with braid on
it (but it worked since Nov), traced it back to the LNB, port 2 shorted.
This is when I noticed another problem...

#3
- Sats B & C obviously blocked by this pine tree. The customer told
me that the house already had an 18" dish on it, that the installers
took it off and put this one (Phase III) in it's place. I used my meter
(since the receiver had no voltage out) to test signal strength at the
receiver with Sats B & C... C very little to none and B none! Meaning
no locals when they come in June. Notice also the cable running outside
the mast tube, black tape and excess cable stuffed up under the yoke.

#4
- OK, now we know the installers KNEW they had no line-of-sight with B&C...
they didn't bother to tilt the dish!

The customer
purchased this system from a local dealer (Cook TV of Bad Axe) and I assume
it was installed by them as well.

Not
a funtionality problem but the wires were stapled using metal staples.
This has been a no-no for quite awhile and these guys just put this system
in the end of Nov '03. Also, they "bonded" their ground block
to the cable company's ground block which was going to a ground rod (not
bonded to house ground). The dish itself was not grounded, just the coax.
Since the LNB and both receivers were the only things in the house that
failed, could this improper ground be the reason? Also, the coax were
not fully flush in the Snap-n-Seal connectors and were not outdoor type.
This install was a good example of what not to do! OK, they did use drip
loops.

I
ended up pulling most of the cable and relocating the dish to the back
of the house where #1 there was a clear line-of-sight and #2 close access
to the house ground.

Clear
line-of-sight (small old apple tree in front of and well below 110)

Cabling
from dish to ground, back up and left/right to the receivers.

Closer
view of ground block

All together,
this service call took me nearly 3 hours, had 2 bad [almost] new receivers,
1 bad triple LNB, a dish move and an almost total re-wire. The
dealer should get charged back for this crappy install!